Monthly Archives: May 2014

Standing outside a graffiti covered shutter on Commerce Street, you wouldn’t expect to find an elite fitness centre inside. Even after the roller goes up, you would still have to be convinced that this is where some of the strongest, fastest and fittest people in the country train. There are no spin bikes, no jacuzzis, no machines and certainly no treadmills, nothing that looks familiar to anyone who’s watched some Jane Fonda or tried a bodypump class. Iron, chalk and old school basic strength training equipment make up the stock of tools they have to play with, throw in some sweat, some grit and some lofty goals and you have archway two of Crossfit Glasgow.

Where archway one caters to the intense circuit class structure of crossfit (a relatively underground fitness movement, taking gymnastics, olympic lifting, strongman and general endurance) archway two has gained a collective of people looking to excel at their sport, stealing methodologies and trading tips between them to get stronger every day. You could easily say that the calibre of athlete that trains there is what makes it interesting, British champions, world record holders, WWE and professional strong men, but it’s not, it’s the support structure, it’s the team spirit despite competing in an individual sport. I hear the words ‘I can’t lift it for you’ which is true, someone can’t come and physically lift the weight for you to win a competition, your team can’t give you more muscle fibres, but they can give you more heart.

Many thanks to Colette, Kirk and Rob for allowing me to see this in action.